
Patrick Moran (Screen shot: Business Insider)
Patrick Moran (source: Business Insider)
ARLINGTON, Va. (TheBlaze/AP) -- The son of Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) resigned from his father’s campaign Wednesday after a conservative group released an undercover video in which he discussed a plan to cast fraudulent ballots.
Patrick Moran had been a field director for the campaign.
The resignation came hours after Project Veritas, an organization led by activist James O’Keefe, released a video showing an undercover operative pitching a voter-fraud plan to Patrick Moran. The plan called for casting ballots in the name of 100 voters who were registered but rarely voted.
In the video, Patrick Moran expresses doubts about the plan but eventually tells the undercover volunteer to “look into it.”
In a statement issued Wednesday night, Patrick Moran said, that “at no point have I, or will I ever endorse any sort of illegal or unethical behavior.”
“At no point did I take this person seriously. He struck me as being unstable and joking, and for only that reason did I humor him. In hindsight, I should have immediately walked away, making it clear that there is no place in the electoral process for even the suggestion of illegal behavior, joking or not.”
Moran said he stepped down because he didn’t want “to be a distraction during this year’s critical election.”
Jim Moran’s campaign office released a statement, saying: “Patrick is well liked and was a well-respected member of the campaign team. This incident, however, was clearly an error in judgment. The campaign has accepted Patrick’s resignation, effective immediately.”
Watch O'Keefe's undercover video here: